Topic: Mongrel's Wargame Terrain (and figures) (Read 17700 times)

Mongrel · « **Reply #40 on:** November 14, 2010, 03:23:07 PM »

So a while back I started making some smaller stuff to contrast the larger items I made. I started with a large chicken coop:

We are now entering extreme OCD territory. I decided to make some supply piles, because they serve so many useful purposes:

- They can act as terrain in and of themselves
- They can break up a larger terrain piece (like a barn or workshop) to make it feel different and new
- They can serve as terrain objectives
- They can serve as movable objectives

The "generic" piles were mixed with some more specific piles, so that you could mix and match quantities for whatever you need in a given game.

The awfulness of my camera was more frustrating here than usual, due to the massive loss of detail. Anyway, never mind. Here are the pics I do have:

Things got pretty silly as I made these. I wound up carving and sculpting loads of tiny fiddly things by hand, and even going so far as to make a telescope (and other technical gear like the surveyor's theodolite) from tiny bits and cylinders of real brass (they sell these grab bags of the stuff at some model stores) and a tiny roll of leather (with a drop of clear gel medium as a lens).

If anyone wants to know how I made any particular item, I can certainly explain.

Stush · « **Reply #41 on:** November 14, 2010, 03:34:37 PM »

Darn it, Mongrel, this stuff is freaking amazing. :D
Tiny versions of big things are the best.

Mongrel · « **Reply #42 on:** November 14, 2010, 03:51:58 PM »

We kept making "Stop, or you'll go blind!" jokes.

Büge · « **Reply #43 on:** November 14, 2010, 05:28:36 PM »

Whoa, you could totally make some dungeon bitz for HeroQuest, like a bookshelf or an alchemist's desk.

Classic · « **Reply #44 on:** November 14, 2010, 08:10:29 PM »

What Buge said, only with wagons. The wheels don't need to move, but it would be nice if the sheer mass of your objective piles didn't look like it needed a half dozen men to move.

Other "fun" projects, large carved stones/obelisks, rough natural terrain (e.g. brambles or swamp), and garbage. Garbage is a simple bit of dressing that can add a lot of personality to different terrain pieces.

Mongrel · « **Reply #45 on:** November 14, 2010, 08:23:17 PM »

I do have one wagon I made earlier (just a woodcart).

I may make some other wagons/carts/carriages later, as they certainly makes decent terrain and can also be used as mobile objectives or whatever.

For now, I'm in that "Terror of Freedom" mode where I can pick any one of the several projects I'd like to do next. I'm thinking I may finish the grasslands I started (long paused while I built up a collection of gravel & rock for details), or maybe finish the larger farm field I was going to make (I made some small farm fields earlier, but they were a huge pain due to my poor choice of base material - now that I have better base material, it should be okay). Or I could base all the trees I have (that one's pretty important). Then there's a return to city buildings, field tents, a small sawmill I got the idea for...

Mongrel · « **Reply #46 on:** December 15, 2010, 02:19:56 PM »

Sorry, no update right now (cocktease...), but I'm thinking of doing something for a competition elsewhere.

The theme is "Secret Hideout/Hidden Base" I'd like to do a generic sort of "Hideout in the woods" for an ambush, the kind of place guerrillas might work from. The faction is generic no-good, dirty-hippie fantasy forest elves, with the usual Sherwood Forest boring tactics.

Since the game background is all pretty boring and clichéd, I'd prefer to make the terrain piece itself more interesting - and logical (hence my invoking modern guerrillas) instead of the usual "Treehouse hideouts", but I'm really not sure what might work out for a "secret forest base" beyond tired re-treads.

Been reading Guerrilla war histories for hours without gaining much (other than a better understanding of why WWI wargame nerds love Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck so much), so I figured I'd just throw out the question here.

Could be a small thing, like little ambush slots, or a series of caches (though the latter there seems pretty lame), to an actual full hidden forest base (though I don't think I want to tackle anything too huge... too many other projects on the go. Definitely nothing with a big water component). I was thinking of making a collection of little ambush cover bits, such as might be used for an IMMEDIATE ambush (a collection of things like a camouflaged tarp on the forest floor, a tree with room to hide inside, etc.), but I think I'm leaning more towards a single terrain object.

Ideas? Suggestions for inspiration?

François · « **Reply #47 on:** December 15, 2010, 03:25:02 PM »

First image that comes in mind is a bunch of elves hidden in abandoned, semi-decrepit giant spider nests, suspended above the forest floor. Maybe they're wearing rough silk as camouflage themselves. Like to anyone going under it'd look something like, "giant spiders used to live here", instead of "warning: a squad of pointy-eared jerks is above you right now". Kind of like this but bigger, and entirely (or almost entirely) in the branches of a single large (dead?) tree.

Or a beaver hut next to a small dried-up reservoir maybe. Or large bird nests if plus-size avians are de rigueur in the area. Simulated or repurposed lairs, in general terms. I think guerilla elves would use existing forest features before making their own, so I'd look at the animal kingdom for inspiration first, according to climate and such.

Lottel · « **Reply #48 on:** December 15, 2010, 04:02:10 PM »

First thing that pops to my mind is Knothole Village from the original sonic comics.
Hollow tree stumps filled with weapons.

But yeah, I think the key here is trying to make a forest, then figuring out where people would hide to ambush, then construct camouflaged places for them to wait.

No real helpful advice, sadly.

Büge · « **Reply #49 on:** December 15, 2010, 04:42:05 PM »

This was the first thing that came to mind. If it were me, I'd use this particular set for inspiration for an ambush-hideout type place, only it would be more like a hillock up against a big ol' dead tree, rather than a chunk of castle that just happens to look like a hill. But you could do that too. Are there rules against using repurposed ruins?

Mongrel · « **Reply #50 on:** December 15, 2010, 06:10:33 PM »

Well, I technically have a "forest" but it consists of half-finished independently-standing trees and patches of scrub that I can place willy-nilly (which is intentional).

Mongrel · « **Reply #51 on:** December 20, 2010, 03:21:10 PM »

Okay, I'm sorry, but I just love this one:

Büge · « **Reply #52 on:** December 20, 2010, 07:45:29 PM »

Looks like someone wants to be an Angry Marine.

Mongrel · « **Reply #53 on:** December 20, 2010, 08:18:39 PM »

That banner is insane.

Mongrel · « **Reply #54 on:** April 20, 2011, 02:39:15 PM »

Hey, remember this thread?

I think this one will actually be converted to a game-functional unit.

Mongrel · « **Reply #55 on:** April 20, 2011, 02:41:53 PM »

More

Mongrel · « **Reply #56 on:** April 20, 2011, 02:42:37 PM »

T-T-T-T-T-TRIPLE POST

François · « **Reply #57 on:** April 20, 2011, 03:18:56 PM »

I don't even know how to begin
To praise all this craft so amazing
It's just too great for mere prose
So as far as compliment goes
Nothing will do but the rhyming

Mongrel · « **Reply #58 on:** April 20, 2011, 09:09:47 PM »

Rhyming praise?!

We're not worthy

François · « **Reply #59 on:** April 20, 2011, 09:35:26 PM »

Humility suits many but on others won't fit
If your skill was a rocket it would certainly crit
From now on thanks to I
You can boast without lie
That the French wrote poems about it

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Author Topic: Mongrel's Wargame Terrain (and figures) (Read 17700 times)